Ultimate Weapons?

[Eagle299]

I kinda latched on to Gladius for Lightning early in the game. High strength stat and she was my best fighter until Fang showed up. Fang, I just stuck with her default lance. Due to the difficulty of the upgrade system, I never used any of the others I found as things progressed. So what I'm curious about now is, are any other weapons worth using once I eventually upgrade them for the Treasure Hunter Achievement. The Belladonna/Marboro Wand is the obvious choice for Vanille, but I'm unsure for everyone else. Does anyone else have any weapons that stand out for them?

[Karifean]

Lightning: That weapon that raises the ATB bar every attack, and the Lion Heart (unfortunately AFAIK only available in Ch12, Ch13).

Sazh: Pleiades - Hyades. A maxed pair of Hyades Magnums gives incredible Str+, it's not even worth leveling it up to Tier 3.

Fang: Taming Pole. Definitely. Period.

That's what I would choose. Though Sazh shouldn't constantly have the Hyades M. equipped...

[Draniei]

I just level up weapons until I find another one in the treasure chests, then it equip that one.

[Cortez]

Lightning: Axis Blade/Lionheart

Snow: Feymark (b/c if you want to use him as a ravager too, he needs a lot of plus magic)

Hope: Hawkeye

Fang: Dragon Lance (personally hate Taming Pole, Stagger Lock is not cool, it KOs Fang as a Ravager)

Sazh: hm, maybe Pleiades, but I never used him except when I need him in the story.

[Eagle299]

I actually found the Taming Pole to be Fang's best weapon. Stagger Lock is only a problem if you don't have someone else attacking who does not have Stagger Lock to be able to do the stagger. Most of my Paradigms have at least 2 attackers. And I only have one paradigm in my standard deck that uses her as a Ravanger anyway.

[Cortez]

Yeah, it depends on the player. But to farm Adamantoises I needed 3 RAVs to fill the chain gauge up in a very short time, so Stagger Lock wasn't good for me.

[TheSpoonyBard]

Snow: Feymark (b/c if you want to use him as a ravager too, he needs a lot of plus magic)

The Feymark is only good if he's using magic. The -strike moves rely on Strength and if you change him to COM he's scuppered. On top of not adding anything to Snow's Strength, the Feymark's ability reduces the effectiveness of physical attacks by 50% (Enfeeblement) or 30% (Hindrance).

For the sake of 333 Magic you can have 717 more Strength at 100% effectiveness with the Wild Bear.

Yeah, it depends on the player. But to farm Adamantoises I needed 3 RAVs to fill the chain gauge up in a very short time, so Stagger Lock wasn't good for me.

Stagger Lock doesn't stop Fang from filling the gauge as a RAV - it just prevents her from knocking it over 100%. If the other two characters are also RAVs and Lightning has Quick Stagger, there's nothing wrong with giving Fang Stagger Lock. And 921/921 are difficult numbers to argue against.

[Eagle299]

Yeah, it depends on the player. But to farm Adamantoises I needed 3 RAVs to fill the chain gauge up in a very short time, so Stagger Lock wasn't good for me.

I was able to do it just fine with Relentless Assault and even Diversity. Plus having Fang in COM mode made it easier to kill the legs quickly once Lightning staggered the legs. Stagger, then Highwind.

Edit: Hell, half the time Fang brought them to just short of Stagger on her own while inflicting status effects on the legs as a SAB, while Lightning was a SYN and Vanille a MED. Switch to Relentless Assault, bam, instant stagger.

[Cortez]

Well, as I mentioned before, it depends on the player. I never used Sazh and I rarely used Snow - only for the turtle farming, where he was a Ravager and Saboteur. I needed Magic, so I used Feymark Yeah, you can argue that he is a good SEN therefore he needs Strength, but Fang is a better SEN, and it makes Snow a completely useless character for me.
Taming Pole has good stats, I admit it, but I tried to farm turtles with it and died more often than with Dragon Lance. To be honest, I only failed twice with Dragon Lance and several times with Taming Pole.
And yeah, again... it depends on the situation. There is no absolute best weapon. Pick the one that matches your playing style and the roles you use the most often.

[Eagle299]

Actually, while Fang is better than Snow at most everything else, Snow is by far a superior Sentinel. For one, he has severl thousand more HP. And two, he has two weapons which enhance his abilities as a Sentinel. Paladin/Winged Saint, which improves his guard powers, Steel Guard and Mediguard. And Umbra/Solaris which improves Fringeward and Deathward, which keeps allies even safer.

[TheSpoonyBard]

Taming Pole has good stats, I admit it, but I tried to farm turtles with it and died more often than with Dragon Lance. To be honest, I only failed twice with Dragon Lance and several times with Taming Pole.

What does the Dragoon Lance do that the Taming Pole doesn't (except allowing Fang to initiate Stagger (which is something the other characters can do easily with Tri-Disaster)) that makes it easier to win?